Several Spanish savings banks fail stress test

MADRID: Several of Spain's 18 savings banks, including some of those which have been involved in recent mergers, have failed to pass tests to see how strong they would be if economic circumstances were more adverse, newspaper El Pais reported on Friday citing financial sources.

The Bank of Spain is due to publish the results of so-called stress tests later on Friday, and similar tests will be published across Europe.

The tests had been expected to show that some of the unlisted savings banks would need a capital injection under certain scenarios.

The newspaper said a small group of savings banks would need more capital if economic conditions were to worsen severely and there were a sovereign debt crisis in several countries. Amongst these, some have already received funds from the Spanish State's Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB), it said, without providing further details.